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Bijou Muhura, Should the Blacks of America Call Themselves African Americans? Today’s United States of America is a different world from what it used to be a century ago for the blacks of the USA and other minority races. When slavery was a law, the blacks in particular were submitted to inhuman conditions and were, in fact, considered as lesser forms of human life. The Europeans, today’s white Americans, traveled mainly to the different countries of West Africa such as Liberia, Sierra Leone, Gambia, and Senegal where they captured and bought a huge number of blacks to submit them to forced labor in the USA. The blacks were taken from their families and cultures, ill treated both physically and mentally, and forced to accept the laws of the strongest nation on earth. Black people were put in a situation where they had to forget their languages and traditions to such an extent that their offspring could not know which countries they came from. Of all the world's most horrific events of genocide, no group was as culturally devastated as the Africans who were brought to America and enslaved (Dispatch). In contrast Europeans came from a particular homeland to America in search of a better lifestyle. They lived together according to their ethnic groups or religion. Though European Americans are similar to the descendants of the slaves because they have a hazy understanding of their ancestors’ culture(s), they still maintain, to this day, some kind of connection to their land of origin. They’re able to maintain the continuity of certain traditions, and they try to go back to certain European countries to know more about the countries and the culture. Americans of European decent acknowledge their origin in a clearly defined country of Europe. They are either Irish Americans, Greek Americans, Italian Americans, German Americans, French Americans and so forth. Americans of African decent, on the contrary, are not able to tie themselves to a particular country, though they should persist in finding out the different cultures of Africa and the history of African countries and peoples. They have been forced to take on the whole continent of Africa as their origin, as if it were one country and had one culture (which is far from reality), because they cannot figure out whether they are Senegalese Americans, Sierra Leonean Americans, Liberian Americans, Gambian Americans or something else. Such knowledge would have created for them a tremendously strong cultural heritage. They have, however, decided to call themselves African Americans, a concept that is culturally meaningless and spiritually empty, because there is no such thing as “African culture,” and that is the problem. The term African American came to a much wider use in the United Stated since the 1970s as the preferred term, as requested by some black Americans themselves. As of the year 2000 the U.S. Census Bureau identified 12.8% of the US population as Black or African American (For more information go to http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American). But, Africa is a huge continent, much bigger than Europe. It is the home of more that 54 culturally diverse countries. Each country has its own languages and cultures, its social and political system of thought, and its fashion of clothes. People from the north, south, east, west and the center differ from one another by their physical features and their attitudes about life problems, just as the Italians and the Swedes, for example, are morphologically and culturally different, even though they both live in Europe. Geneva Smitherman, a well known sociologist, pointed out in a survey which was conducted in 1989 in a couple of states in the USA the idea of replacing the term “Black” with “African American.” Blacks offered three broad explanations for approving the change: identification of dual heritage, inadequacy of the "color" label, and aesthetic quality of the newer term. However, to call oneself “African American” does not denote any sense of belonging to a system of thought or any cultural reality. There are hundreds of cultures in Africa that combine to make bigger units like the ones found in Europe, such as “Bantu,” “Nilotic,” “Nilo-Saharan,” and “Manding.” They can be paralleled with “Anglo-Saxon,” “Romance,” “Germanic” or “Slavic” cultural units in Europe. To identify oneself “African American” is totally empty and hollow, because you cannot identify with any of the cultures of Africa. The term “African American” was a big change from the politically loaded and race-based concepts like “black,” “Negro,” “Red Skins,” and “Yellow” (for Asians). The next step to be taken should be to revitalize the cultural values of the blacks of America, so that they can become a community rooted in values and traditions that can help them resolve internal and external crises and organize successes. Cultural identity is always rooted in ethnic values and traditions. To have an identity, the individual must live according to those values and traditions. Cultural identity determines people’s behavior both in good and bad times. It leads people to rely upon a set of traditions and to conduct their every day lives accordingly. People from Bantu culture, for example, do not identify themselves as “Africans.” They first define themselves as Bantu, a culturally and linguistically related unit that spreads from central to southern Africa. They then consider their nationality, which might be Angolan, Zambian, Gabonese, Zimbabwean, Togolese, Congolese, etc. Finally, they can jokingly refer to people from other cultures of Africa as being “Africans” because this is a concept that simply implies a geographical reference. How can people identify themselves with all the cultures of a continent that is so diverse? Just because of their skin color, the blacks of America were enslaved; they were brainwashed, since their cultures, languages, and origins were abolished. The blacks of America think of themselves as “Africans” because they want to identify with and belong to a particular cultural group, just like all the other races of America (Wilkinson 14-18). But some know very little about the social and cultural systems of the African continent. It is obvious that ethnic, individual, and group identities have a mythic content, but they don’t have a mythic origin. Identities and traditions develop from a historical reality to combine with the contemporary values of a group of people. By definition, myth is necessarily a mixture of both past and present realities combined with some dose of imagination that none of us can demonstrate. Then there is the use of the concept “African” that is very confusing, because some official forms expect all of the blacks who live in the USA, like some Haitians, or other citizens, like immigrants from countries such as Angola, Liberia, and Ethiopia to also be identified as “African” Americans. What about the Whites who are from countries such as Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Egypt? Are they also considered to be African Americans? The black immigrants that came originally from African countries, after slavery, cannot possibly be called “African” Americans. Immigrants from different parts of Africa live in the USA. There are people from places like Nigeria, Sudan, Eritrea, South Africa, Sierra Leone, and Benin. Like myself, I’m Congolese from Democratic Republic of Congo; I never refer to myself as being African. I mention my country’s name and my nationality first, to identify myself. Black immigrants have therefore clearly defined countries of origin, clearly identifiable cultural backgrounds, and defined nationalities of origin. The concept “African” American is wrong for people who emigrated from African countries, because it seeks to express in one vague and hollow concept diverse realities of race (black), ethnicity (Zulu, Yoruba, Kongo, Lunda, Hutu, etc.), and nationality (American) at the same time. The blacks of America do come from Africa geographically speaking. It is estimated that most of them came from countries of West Africa. For that reason, they might be expected to be interested in everything that is West African and African in general: art, certain dishes, clothes from some countries (Robertson 1). Another case in point is African names. The blacks of America try to learn only a small portion of the African continent. Foremost, people should know that there is no such thing as “The African language” or “African” names. Names are given in a cultural unit; they denote ethnic belonging, therefore national origin, and ultimately cultural identity and even geographical identity. In most cultures, there are naming ceremonies; a name is given according to what happened when a child was born. It may also be given in honor of a very good friend who may or may not belong to the same ethnic group, clan, or even country as yours. For example, Awa, a name from Senegal, is given there to the elder girl. Koffi, a name from Ghana, is given there to a baby boy born on a Friday. Twins have special names. Among the Atetela, one of the many ethnic groups of D.R.Congo, Shako and Omba are twin names given according to the order of birth arrival. Omba is the first-born twin, whereas Shako is the second. These names cannot be found in any other ethnic group, but they can have their equivalent. For example in the ethnic group of the Ba-Luba, also in D.R. Congo, twins are called Mbuyi and Kanku. The child that is born right after twins, whether a girl or a boy, is given the name of Mbutshu by the Atetela or Muswamba by the Ba-Luba. The name “Ndiaye,” is Wolof; you find people with such names in Senegal. Likewise a person from Nigeria cannot be called “Mutombo,” because he/she can’t be a “Muluba,” one member of the Ba-Luba ethnic group. Likewise names like Jackson or MacDonald are Anglo-Saxon and Scottish names respectively and cannot be originally found in Italy or France in modern European history. Also, you will never meet someone who can trace his or her family name back centuries in Scotland or Sweden called Gorbachev or Nimov. These names are Russian names. Dos Santos is a Portuguese name that one cannot find originally in England, and so forth. Names are culturally and ethnically bound. The consequences of intercontinental slavery are still extremely dangerous for the blacks themselves and for the American society as a whole. Not knowing where they came from, not being able to trace their cultural roots, could cause anger or apathy, and this anger or apathy could erupt in different ways. Changing the term “Colored” to “Negro” and then to “Black” is a process that took a long time (Gilley 85). It also took a long time for adjustment. The term “African” American is more a political and ideological term than a cultural term. With this term, the blacks of America fought prejudice based on the color of their skin. This term has moved from describing people, according to the color of their skin, to a more specific term based on a geographical origin. It is probably more ideological than racial. How about black immigrants from Brazil and Haiti; should they be called African Americans just because of the color of their skin? The use of the term “African American” has the harmful effect of leading all the Americans to overlook the cultural variety, richness, and differences within the African continent, because many might think of Africa as a homogenous entity, which is a misconception. Why can’t the same thing be said about Europe, even after the creation of the European Union? Because though it is called the European Union (EU), people still know that within it there are different countries and cultures all together. Africa is indeed a huge continent with more than 54 different countries; each country has diverse cultures and languages. The steps taken to change the racial term into a geographical origin term were significant, but now the process should proceed much further to find a cultural identity based on the ethnic values and traditions of ethnic groups of Africa. Some people say that the community of black Americans blames slavery or other races for their inability to get out of the ghettos and to create normal working and living conditions for the young blacks of this country. They add that Chinese Americans and other Americans of Asian origin are ready to accept change and work hard for a better tomorrow, that they are eager to succeed in a strange land and, therefore, that all sacrifices are acceptable to them. If this is true, one has to remember, however, that these people never experienced the horrors of slavery and the cultural obliteration of which the black Americans have been victims. Culture and tradition help Americans of Asian origin to be morally and psychologically strong when facing adversity. This comparison between the Blacks of America and the Americans of Asian origin shows that when a group of people knows their background, lives their culture and their language, when they can identify themselves with a definite place and culture, then they behave in a way that is indicative of moral stability and cultural awareness. But can Blacks of America really be compared to Americans of Asian origin? One thing for certain is that when comparing the term “African American” to “Asian American,” the second is used mostly as a convenient terminology. It describes a racial category but doesn’t make an assumption of culture as the term “African American” tends to do. People know that there are Japanese Americans, Korean Americans, Chinese Americans, and Indonesian Americans who each have clearly defined and different cultures. What is the importance of all this and why should any one care? Culture builds a country and generates personalities. In order to have a brighter tomorrow, black Americans need to start a quest of identity. Just like the search by Alex Haley in the book Roots, even though a fiction is a good example of the start of a quest. Some people already do that by visiting Goree Island, which was developed as a center of the expanding European slave trade. Goree is a small 45-acre land mass located off the coast of Senegal. An estimated 20 million people from African countries passed through the Island between the mid-1500s and the mid-1800s. The Island is now considered a memorial to the black Diaspora; there is there a former slave house that has now become a museum (for more information about traveling go to http://webster.commnet.edu/stuweb/~diop3212/negre.htm) Another way that helps some Black Americans to revisit their African roots is by giving their babies names of African origin. This is a good idea; they should continue to do so making sure that they know the ethnic origin and the meaning of each name. The principles of Kwanzaa are also a good way to reflect the different African cultures in their lives. They also need to learn more about the African continent, study it in its various cultural features, and even travel, like some have, to the different countries, so that the African continent and, even more, one African country can become a sort of a cultural homeland. This will make the African continent become a reality in their mind instead of an imaginary land like the one portrayed in movies or literary fiction. They should try to get to know the immigrants of the different African countries better, because they constitute living monuments of culture that black Americans should discover in order to re-discover their own heritage. At the end of their hard, long, and painful search, they may be able to finally identify themselves as Senegalese Americans, Ghanaian Americans, or Gambian Americans after they have learned what makes the Manding, Wolof, Zulu, Kongo and Yoruba cultures the rich, age-old traditions that they are. That’s the only way the blacks of America will be culturally identifiable and will find the strength to participate fully in a multicultural USA. Some might argue that giving a greater specificity and greater historical accuracy to the ethnicity of each black American might have a negative effect of fragmenting the group identity. There is really no risk at all; on the contrary, all the risk is on the other side of this equation. The USA is divided into state governments and the federal government. Even though that’s the case, every state learns to develop its own resources to help grow the economy of their own state in particular and the country as a whole at the same time. Balkanization privileges the specificity of the group to make the country richer. If the blacks of America were to continue to reconnect with the motherland Africa, they will not lose their specificity; instead, they will re-discover their individual selves and that discovery will enrich the whole group. Saint Patrick’s Day, an Irish tradition which came to the United States in 1737, is celebrated by everyone, not just the Irish; international dinners at colleges or even Chinatowns do not create disparity. On the contrary, they enable people of all origins to come together and participate together. The Blacks of America should call themselves just Americans or maybe Americans of West African decent, as long as they continue their quest. Caucasian Americans do not call themselves “Caucasian American” but simply Americans. They still maintain their own specificity, being Irish Americans, Polish Americans, French Americans, or Italian Americans. This can also work for the “African” American as it can work for Native Americans, Latin Americans, or Asian Americans. Within a main culture there are always subcultures whose specificity enriches the group, and it does not eliminate the fact that a group can be very diverse and remain a group at the same time. Like Pierre Theilhard de Chardin said “Union differentiates” and Jameson said “difference relates.”
Works Cited Diop, Babacar. Gore Island. 12 April 2003. http://webster.commnet.edu/stuweb/~diop3212/negre.htm Dispatch, Jasmine. “Where Are African-Americans Today?” 2000. The Odyssey world trek for service and education. 12 April 2003. http://www.worldtrek.org/odyssey/mideast/030100/030100jazzblackhistory.html Gilley, Wali. “African-American: What’s in a Name?” Educational Leadership 48.1 (1990):85. Robertson, Eric. “African Art and African-American Identity.” African Arts 27.2 (1994): 1. Smitherman, Geneva. “What Is Africa to Me? Language, Ideology and African American.” Languages and Linguistics 1 Jan. 1991: 35. Wilkinson, Doris “Americans of African identity.” Society 27.4 (1990): 14-18. |